Round 7 Preview: Wanderers v Mariners

Hyundai A-League Round 7 takes the Mariners to Western Sydney in pursuit of that elusive first win of the campaign. It’s Friday night football against the Western Sydney Wanderers at Spotless Stadium. Kick-off is 7:50pm.

It’s been a mixed start in Australian football for Wanderers’ Coach, Markus Babbel with one win, two draws and three losses to his name. In their last start, they were knocked over by an almost perfect Melbourne Victory who fired four goals past them at Marvel Stadium.

The Mariners are chasing their first win of the campaign after two much improved performances against Sydney FC & Perth Glory in the last two weeks. After taking a first half lead against Sydney FC on Saturday evening they were ultimately silenced by a penalty and a 30-yard screamer at Central Coast Stadium.

Add in the return to Western Sydney for the likes of Jack Clisby, Jacob Melling, Antony Golec, Mario Shabow, Jake McGing and Josh Macdonald – it all makes for an intriguing match up at Spotless Stadium on Friday evening.

Mulvey in the media

Not all hope is lost?
“There is no hope lost actually all hope is right there, it's optimistic because if you dig down underneath the last two performances we’ve played very well,” Mulvey said. “We took Perth to the last minute and we lost to Sydney at home against a team that is probably one of the better teams in the league.

“We are doing a lot of good things right, we're just not getting the rub of the green, we’re not getting that luck where it counts. I’m very happy with the effort the guys are putting in, we just need to turn it around. We’re going to Western Sydney tomorrow, full respect to them but we are going there to try and win this game.”

A trip to Western Sydney…
“First of all, we’ve got that mindset that we want to win the game, too often has this club been in a situation where we have lost games late on or the season has been blighted by mistakes. We have seen that for a short part this season but what we are seeing is a greater capacity to potentially go out and win games.

“Potentially is a big word, what we have to do is physically do it. The most important part of my job at the moment is that we don’t lose belief and I see a group of lads that still have belief, who are still working for each other and working very hard for the club. I’m sure the next win is around the corner and once we get one win, we will start shooting up the table.

Decision making is the key to success…
“The biggest difference is the decision making. We’ve made some decisions at the wrong time in games that has cost us goals and consequently our heads have gone down for a couple of minutes and the perfect example of that is what happened in Melbourne where we conceded a goal from a mistake and bang bang they got two more goals before half time. We’re learning from that and the players are learning from that it’s a question of how quickly do we learn from it. If we get that decision making better, if we get a win, that builds the confidence. Once we build the confidence in this team we will be on a good wicket.

Eradicating mistakes & keeping the faith…
“We've got the nucleus of a very good team and we need to cut out those mistakes, we need to get back those lads that are injured, get them back into the squad so we've got a little more pressure on the group. As I said to the fans last week, me need to make sure we maintain our faith, keep supporting the club. Last week we had great support, the fans got into it, I could hear that it was really noticeable when we scored and in the last 20 minutes when we were pushing to get the equaliser. The crowd gave us a lift and if they can maintain their support I’m sure we will come good for them.”

Squad news…
“Cisse is back in the squad, available for selection, I’m sure he will play, Ross McCormack is a bit of a less chance of playing. He [Cisse] will need to pick up from where the team left off last week which was playing a high line, squeezing from behind and I’m sure he will be up for it.

“Matt Simon will be starting tomorrow and what I’m looking for from Matt is what he gives us every week in and week out and last week he was really good, and he led the team by example and I’m looking for the same again but not just from him, from everybody.

“Tommy Oar will probably be out for a couple of weeks still, maybe the Wellington game will come too soon and with Ross we are just waiting on assessment.

The Western Sydney Wanderers…
“They’ve got some good players, there’s no doubt about it, they’ve got a very experienced manager. We go into there with our eyes wide open we know it’s going to be a really big task but we’re going there with hope and optimism and with a plan and when you’ve got that and enthusiasm and encouragement from behind the scenes than anything’s possible.

“I’m sure like I said the win is just around the corner. There were no bad performers last week, everybody put in, everybody gave everything they had and we just fell short due to some decisions we made on the field and one of them was not closing down the ball when Brandon O’Neill came forward to score the winning goal, so we need to eradicate those kind of incidents in the game, keep our heads up, keep ploughing on and I’m sure the win is around the corner.”

What’s been said?

Matt Millar, Central Coast Mariners
“It’s gonna be a massive game because the Wanderers are such a good team and well coached. Maybe they haven’t had the start they’d wanted so it’s gonna be a hot and fiery 10 to 15 minutes at the start but like I said we can really take it to them this weekend and get our first win.

“A win would be a just reward because we’ve been doing well, we really took it to Sydney last week and then Perth the week before that. We are competitors this year in the league. A win is pretty fair for what we deserve, it’s not far off,” Millar said.

Opta Stat Attack

The Wanderers have won six of their last nine games against the Mariners

The Mariners are undefeated at Spotless Stadium, despite scoring just one first half goal across the three games

Western Sydney Wanderers have lost just two of their previous 14 games at Spotless Stadium, however the first of those two defeats came against the Mariners in Feb 2017

The Mariners last away win in NSW came against the Wanderers at Spotless Stadium in February 2017at Spotless Stadium

The Mariners and Wanderers have each conceded seven first-half goals this season, more than any other teams

Oriel Riera has made 35 shots this season, nine more than any other player in the competition

Kye Rowles has made 21 tackles and 18 interceptions this season, the second most of any player in either category